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#GuestPost: Josephine Boyce on how real world politics influenced her REBELLION series

I am in the possession of two beautiful books. Josephine Boyce has recently released her books with brand new covers, and I am in love. (Also, these paperbacks feel nice, too!)

Josephine is here today to talk about how real-world politics influenced her writing, and how she is determined to always write strength into her characters. Read her words below, and learn more about the first book in the series, Rebellion, down below!

Politics and dystopian fiction

Dystopian fiction felt like it had had its heyday in young adult fiction once the final instalment for The Hunger Games trilogy came out. And then politics went crazy in 2016 and suddenly people couldn’t get enough of the genre again, which was honestly a relief for me, seeing as I was working on a dystopian series.

Often I’m asked where the idea for the series came from. Well, I was born in Kuwait and spent a lot of my early years in the Middle East and so in 2010 when the Arab Spring occurred, I paid particular attention to it. As I watched the news reports I thought to myself, “What if this was happening in the UK, or across Europe? What if we were having to stand up against our governments because we wanted a more liberal democracy?” And that’s when the seed of the idea for Rebellion was planted.

So how did the Arab Spring become the seed that created a book? In that world, six years before the start of Rebellion, uprisings spread across Old Europe and they were suppressed by a neutral body who was sent in to keep the peace. Two years in that sympathetic power were controlling the peace in seven separate nations, from there they had enough power, enough strength to take over all of Old Europe. They were called the Global Defence Organisation (the GDO). Essentially, the idea of riots was the foundation for the story which the book is built upon.

Cassia Fortis is the main character in Rebellion and she decides she’s had enough of the oppressive regime she’s living under, and so she joins their army as a spy. She isn’t the strongest physically, the smartest, the best, but she’s determined to do something, anything, to oppose the regime. And no matter what set-backs she faces, she doesn’t give up. And for me, that’s an important message, because there will always be set-backs (but I hope you never have to endure what Cassia does), the path is never going to be easy, but be the woman who persisted. Be ‘difficult’. There is nothing more wonderful than a woman who has been labelled bossy being an absolute boss.

Margaret Atwood says that she writes ‘speculative fiction’ and I like to think of the Rebellion series in that way. Yes, it is dystopian fiction, but it was born out of speculation. It was born from a ‘what if?’. Unfortunately, when we start to think about the ‘what ifs’ and then write about them, some of them feel like they might actually start to come true. This is why I love dystopian/speculative fiction, it asks the questions and provides one possible scenario as an answer. And you get to include cool gadgets, if you want.

We’re living in a time now where we have to ask ourselves ‘what if’ a lot, and, unfortunately, we’ve seen the worst possible scenarios happen. But instead of standing by and letting it happen, a movement has been born, much like something you’d see in a dystopian novel. And I think it’s also important to highlight that this movement is inclusive and without prejudice, and it’s something that should always be considered when writing, even if it’s a dystopian, sci-fi or fantasy world.

But, even if I’m writing within a different genre I will always write about strong women; strong women were what I looked for in literature and film when I was younger. Strong women inspire me to continue to educate myself on social issues, to do better, to be better. Those are the women I want to see on the pages of my books. These are the women I am proud to see marching our streets and saying enough is enough.

About Rebellion by Josephine Boyce

Series: Rebellion #1

Publication date: February 9th 2016

Genres: Young Adult, Dystopian

Auria was the last nation in Europe to be occupied by the Global Defence Organisation, the same organisation that promised to bring peace when riots spread rapidly across the continent. Now governing all of Old Europe, the GDO’s control over Auria begins to increase and their tactics to dominate the population become more violent; 17-year-old Cassia Fortis decides that she’s had enough of being repressed and chooses to take matters into her own hands.

With her loyal friend Luca, Cassia joins the GDO army, in the hope that she can find a way to free her Dad from prison and reunite her parents. What she doesn’t account for is the measures she will have to take to prove her loyalty to the regime and the devastating path her best friend Jake will take.

About Josephine Boyce

Josephine Boyce was born in Kuwait to a diplomat father and artist mother. She spent most of her childhood in the Middle East and one day plans to incorporate her memories of the desert into her writing.

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